1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of semiconductor memory systems, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor memory system having multiple system data buses.
A claim of priority is made to Korean Patent Application No. 2002-50172, filed on Aug. 23, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory devices have been developed with emphasis on the realization of high degrees of integration and large memory capacities. Central processing units (CPUs), on the other hand, have been developed with emphasis on achieving high processing speeds. As a result, the difference in operating speeds between CPUs and memory devices has been gradually increasing. As such, the operating speed of the computer system memory device has become a chief factor limiting the performance of the computer system itself.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the structure of a conventional semiconductor memory system.
A system data bus having a width of M bits connects memory modules 120, 130, 140, and 150 to a memory controller 110. The memory modules 120, 130, 140, and 150 are installed in respective memory slots (not shown). The memory modules 120, 130, 140, and 150 have the same data bus width as the system data bus. Each of the memory slots is commonly connected to the system data bus.
Also, all of the memory slots are sequentially connected to the system data bus. Thus, in large-capacity memory systems, as the number of memory slots increases, channel discontinuity in the system data bus line and impedance mismatch increase. Hence, the operating characteristics of the system data bus are deteriorated in a high frequency region, thus limiting the operation speed of the system.
Large-capacity memory devices are essential for, in particular, the operation of a high-performance, large-capacity server system. In order to maximize the capacity of a memory system, the number of memory devices installed in the memory system should be maximized. For this purpose, the number of memory slots accommodating memory modules should be increased, and the number of memory devices per memory module should be maximized.
On the other hand, for high-speed operation of the memory system, an impedance mismatch factor of the system data bus or load of the system data bus caused by the memory devices should be minimized. In order to meet these requirements for high-speed operation, both the number of memory slots connected to a channel and the number of memory modules should be small.
Thus, a conflict exists between maximizing the number of memory devices to achieve a large memory capacity and minimizing the number of memory devices to achieve a high-speed operation. It is therefore difficult to simultaneously achieve both a large memory capacity and a high-speed operation.